Cuba-to-Florida swimmer Diana Nyad pulled from water after being battered by rough night

BY MATT SEDENSKY, ASSOCIATED PRESS

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Her goal of swimming from Cuba to Florida appearing elusive, Diana Nyad was out of the water Tuesday morning, being checked by doctors on a boat and discussing whether she could return to a fourth day of swimming.

Nyad emerged from the water at 7:42 a.m. A team member, Vanessa Linsley, said the swimmer was battered by a rough night and was unsure if she would be able to finish the 103-mile crossing.

"Instead of getting hit with one doozy they got hit with three," Linsley said, "They got hit with the weather, they got hit with the jellyfish and they got hit with the sharks all at the same time."

She continued: "They are discussing with Diana as to how she wants to proceed."

Nyad, who turns 63 on Wednesday, was making her third attempt since last summer to become the first person to cross the Florida Straits without a shark cage. She also made a failed try with a cage in 1978.